ME!!!!!
I got into Mt Hood 50 Mile race, I am so excited and equally scared. Please send me good vibes that training goes well.
It was really an amazing day, it started with a much needed massage. Set a very good tone for the day.
Then Cannon and I got to go to a friends lego themed party.
We had a great time and Cannon ate his weight in chocolate cake.
The rest of the day was spent hanging out as a family, it was pretty dang great.
___________________________________
How was your day?
Happy Monday everyone! It’s our last day of winter break so I am planning a fun day with the kids. My energy is low in the evenings so early morning is my best chance to run.
My alarm is usually set for between 4:00 and 4:30 AM depending on how long I am planning on running.
I try to get out of bed without using the snooze option as I have read it’s really bad for your sleep cycles and can leave you more tired.
I always have coffee before my run, it’s something I really enjoy and my stomach handles it just fine. The trick is to not let myself have more than one cup, I could easily waste the morning away drinking coffee and scrolling. On mornings that I am running more than an hour I will eat something simple as well, but I had planned to run for an hour so I just had the coffee and some water.
I always set my gear out the night before and leave it downstairs so I can get ready without waking anyone who might be sleeping in our room (lately that has included Cannon a lot). This was pretty easy since I I was running on the treadmill that morning.
It’s a lot more work when I run outside in the dark.
This morning I was on the treadmill from 5am to 6am just running easy and watching Brittany Runs a Marathon on Amazon Prime, I haven’t finished it yet but it was pretty good and made the time pass!
When I was done running the kids were still sleeping so I got to have some more coffee and power clean for 20 minutes.
When the kids were up we all had some quiche that Cory made last night.
Then we went for a morning walk just like we do for school, hopefully getting back into our routine won’t be too difficult.
Cannon wanted to walk with me instead of riding so he could get some energy out too.
We made it home in time to help get the recycling out, there was so much left over from Christmas!
____________________________________________
Every morning is slightly different but follows a similar pattern.
Are you a morning runner?
What do your mornings look like?
Our sweet little Emmy has been teething this week, the last few nights she has woken up overnight clearly in pain. My heart breaks when it seems like she is in pain. It also shines a light on how easy we have had it that both kids started sleeping through the night very early on. Also we are just getting into teething now at almost ten months so others have to deal with this much earlier. While I hate that anything might hurt her we are all enjoying some extra cuddles.
In the morning we went to a Valentines party with Cannon’s little friends. He was pretty excited about eating a cupcake and playing.
You can see his little hand trying to steal chocolates. I remember Valentines Day being so fun when I was little and I love sharing it with the kids now too.
Because of the broken sleep I wasn’t feeling up to getting up at four am to run so after naps I bundled the kids up and we went for an afternoon jog.
Unfortunately after a few days of feeling under the weather I have completely lost my voice. It’s been an interesting challenge trying to parent with no voice.
Even with all the challenges I am pretty excited about this years running. I have been thinking long and hard about what I wanted my big goal to be for this year and I finally settled on a race! I considered a lot of different races and distances but nothing was feeling right. I wanted something big that would push me out of my comfort zone this summer. The race needed to be mid to late summer to give me enough time to train. It also needed to be before fall because we are going to Germany in late September and it would be too hard to keep up serious training while traveling for almost three weeks.
When I thought of Run Rabbit Run 50 it seemed to fit just right. I would have the entire summer to train, get into the mountains as much as possible and a little over a week to recover before our flight. This schedule feels right to me.
I am nervous about the amount of climbing and the altitude. This is definitely not a beginners course.
But it’s hard to come across an easy ultra course in Colorado and I am most interested in a a scenic run and Run Rabbit delivers on views as much as the difficult terrain.
So here we go, a 50 day run streak to kick off 50 mile training!
Yes I am starting my training now with 11 weeks of base building to build up my endurance and durability before starting a more specific 20 week training plan where I will focus on climbing, technical trails in May. I will start altitude training once the mountain trails thaw in the summer. Cory and I have already discussed how we want to take the kids camping in the mountains this summer and he is totally onboard for me running on trails while he hangs with the kids.
______________________________________
Any advice on getting my voice back?
What are your big race plans for 2019?
I will admit that last week felt really difficult and it seemed really challenging to get the miles in that I wanted. As much as I would like to always be consistent and effortlessly bang out 70 mile weeks, getting in 60 miles took all of my will power.
Cannon came down with a virus on Wednesday and was fighting a fever through Sunday. I can’t complain since Cannon is normally such a good sleeper but he was really not feeling well and woke up about every two hours. I think I averaged between 3-4 hours of sleep a night. Poor little guy had such a sore throat it would wake him up and made him miserable. I tried to keep up on my running but on Thursday all I wanted to do was be with and try to comfort him. There definitely are priorities in life and Cannon comes WAY above running or any race.
Cannon’s fever broke on Sunday and is feeling much better, so now just two more big weeks before taper!
———–
Monday: Unplanned rest day. I had hoped to get a few miles in after the 50k over the weekend but life got in the way, I had a lot to do for work.
Sweet Boy
Tuesday: 4 miles in the morning, up with the sun, then 4 more miles on the treadmill in the evening after Cannon went to sleep.
Wednesday: 5 miles that felt like garbage, lack of sleep was already starting to get to me. Strength training in the evening.
Thursday: Nothing, just cuddles with Cannon after a particularly difficult night.
Friday: Cory had Friday off so I had more time to get out on a run. I didn’t want to lose much time with Cannon so I got up early and drove to Heil Ranch to get some trail time for 19 miles. Even starting early it was HOT. Summer comes on fast here in Colorado.
Saturday: We spent the morning taking Cannon into the doctor since he had a fever for over three days, he was diagnosed with a virus. We ruled out Strep so there wasn’t much to do other than try to keep him comfortable and hydrated. Both Cory and I wanted to get runs in so after Cannon went to bed for the evening Cory headed out for 21 miles around the neighborhood while I took the monitor down to the basement treadmill. I finished my run around 9:45. I grabbed a cheese stick for dinner and passed out.
Sunday: Again I wanted to get my run done early so I could have more family time. When my alarm went off at 4am I wasn’t feeling very enthusiastic. I got some coffee in my system and forced myself out of the door. The first mile was a death march but after getting warmed up I settled into the run. I am so lucky to have nice trails very close to my house that make these runs easier to get done. I got in 20 miles to top off the week, then spent the rest of the day with my family.
Totals:
Running: 60.2 miles, the goal was 65 but I feel good about what I was able to fit in while still caring for Cannon as best I could. Now that Cannon is feeling better I am hoping for 70+ miles this week, again there will be challenges since Cannon’s birthday is on Saturday (How is he going to be 1 already?!?!?!?!?) and Father’s Day on Sunday. Wish me luck!